Oct 19 (Reuters) - Activist investor Jana Partners has

built a stake in medical device maker Cooper Companies ( COO )

and plans to push for strategic alternatives, two sources

familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

Jana, one of the industry's most prominent corporate

agitators, also plans to push Cooper to improve capital

allocation that could boost returns, the sources said,

requesting anonymity as they are not permitted to discuss the

matter publicly.

The Wall Street Journal, which first reported Jana's

position in Cooper earlier in the day, said the fund may push it

to consider combining its contact-lens unit with rival Bausch +

Lomb ( BLCO ).

Cooper in August had lowered its annual revenue forecast due

to a slowdown in demand across certain geographies.

CooperVision, the company's contact lens division, reported

quarterly sales of $718.4 million, missing analysts' average

estimate of $721.8 million. Cooper also has a subsidiary called

CooperSurgical, a fertility technology company.

Representatives for Jana Partners, Cooper Companies ( COO ) and

Bausch + Lomb ( BLCO ) did not immediately respond to Reuters' request

for comment.

"A potential combination with Cooper would strengthen

competition and create a more scaled company in the contact-lens

segment," Bausch + Lomb ( BLCO ) Chief Executive Brent Saunders was

quoted in the WSJ report.

Jana also believes Cooper Companies' ( COO ) strategy has generated

little value for shareholders, leaving a more complicated

business with poor capital allocation, the sources told Reuters.